


always gold

by arcane_achilles



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman Incorporated (Comics), Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Always Gold, Angst, Character Death, Crying, Flashbacks, Irrational Decision-Making, M/M, Other, Running away from your problems, Screaming, implied PTSD, implied trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:07:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29775918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arcane_achilles/pseuds/arcane_achilles
Summary: how jonathan samuel kent reacts to the death of his best friend.he didn't even get to say goodbye.(inspired by always gold by radical face.)
Relationships: Bruce Wayne & Clark Kent, Clark Kent & Jonathan Kent, Jonathan Samuel Kent & Bruce Wayne, Jonathan Samuel Kent & Damian Wayne, Tim Drake & Damian Wayne, Tim Drake & Jonathan Samuel Kent
Kudos: 11





	always gold

**Author's Note:**

> please read the tags for trigger warnings !! but other than that i hope you enjoy !! 
> 
> (fanfic overall inspired by the song 'always gold by radical face'. and 'batman: death in the family' on hulu (which is based off the second volume of Batman Inc.)

_As Damian croaks out his last breath, he says quietly, as almost if he was talking to himself, “I’m sorry.”_

A knock on the Kent household door is heard throughout the home. Clark calls out that he’ll get it, and when he opens it he’s surprised to see a mournful looking Bruce Wayne standing in his doorway. 

“Hey Bruce, what’s up?” Clark asks, oblivious as always, assuming nothing’s wrong. 

Just as Jon walks out to see who it is, Bruce drops the news, “Damian died.” 

Jon’s world stops. His phone slips out of his hand and he collapses. He hears his blood run through his ears and his face drain of color. They were only fifteen. They were kids. He feels himself fall to the ground and sobs wracked his body. But all he’s thinking about while Conner, Clark, and Bruce crowd around is how. How did Damian let this happen to himself? How did he die? He couldn’t have died. There was no way Damian died. He was the strongest person Jon knew, and his father was Superman. Damian had to be okay, this was just a sick joke right? A dream? It wasn’t real. Damian was okay. Damian was fine. He had to be, right? Jon had just talked to him the day prior, he had to be fine, right? 

**_“I’m gonna be here ‘til I’m nothin’ but bones in the ground !” Jon exclaims, laughing as he swings on the swings, Damian on the swing next to him._ **

_**“Whatever you say Kent,” Damian says in an annoyed tone, the small smile on his face showing he wasn’t actually annoyed by Jon’s statement.** _

“No,” Jon says through his choked sobs, rubbing at his eyes as Clark hugs him harshly, not letting anyone come near him. 

“I’m sorry. We did everything we could,” Bruce says, confident as always. His voice has a hint of sadness to it. 

“No!” Jon screams, crying even harder into Clark’s chest. 

His best friend isn’t dead. He couldn’t be. 

“Jon, breathe for me, calm down, please,” Clark says, softly, trying to touch Jon’s hair. 

The boy flinches out of his reach and pries himself out of his fathers grasp, now standing in the middle of the room. 

“He was killed in the line of duty. He was protecting Nightwing, I am sorry, sincerely,” Bruce says, feeling immense sympathy for the small Superboy. 

“You should have been there!” Jon says, slamming his fist into Bruce’s chest, “You should’ve done something!” He punches him again. 

“This is why child heroes don’t turn out the way you want them too!” Jon punches Bruce again, weaker this time. 

“This is why we’re all in therapy! Because our friends drop like flies doing adult heroes jobs for them!” Jon punches a stunned Bruce once again. 

“This is why Conner’s dead! This is why Jason died! This is why Damian’s dead! We do your job and some of us pay the price!” Jon screams, tears running down his face as he hits Bruce one last time. He pulls the kid into a hug. Jon cries into his chest for what feels like years.

**_“Superboy! Slow down!” Damian yells, racing after the half-Kryptonian._ **

**_“What, need help catching up? Slowpoke!” Jon playfully blows a raspberry at him._ **

**_“No, would you like to ‘hang out’ later this week?” Damian asks, his voice quieter than before._ **

**_“Yeah, of course? How about Saturday? I’ll meet you in Gotham?” Jon asks, laughing and smiling like an idiot._ **

**_“Very well. Goodbye,” Damian replies, shooting his grappling hook gun and racing off._ **

**_“JON! WATCH OUT!” Damian yells, tackling Jon to the ground._ **

**_Jon looks up at Damian and smiles, laughing slightly, “We’re on a mission, codenames Robin, codenames.”_ **

**_Damian peels himself off of Jon and stands up, brushing off his pants, “At least thank me, bastard.”_ **

**_“Hey that’s mean!” Jon says sarcastically, causing Damian to laugh lightly, “But thank you.”_ **

**_“You’re very welcome Superboy, now let’s go,” Damian says, smirking before running directly at the bad guys._ **

**_Jon only laughs lightly and chases after him._ **

**_“JONATHAN PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!” Damian roars, while Jon holds him in his arms and spins in circles._ _  
__“Dude, I thought you were dead!” Jon exclaims, only squeezing Damian tighter around his middle._ **

**_“JONATHAN SAMUEL KENT PUT ME DOWN!” Damian yells again, still unsuccessful for him trying to get down._ **

**_From some distance away, Superman and Batman observe their sons._ **

**_“For the record I also thought Robin was dead. And if I thought you were dead but you weren’t I’d do the same,” Clark says, trying to reason with Bruce._ **

**_“You have, twice, and if it’s genetic, you’ll get hell from my other kids when their ‘Supers’ try to do that,” Bruce says, putting quotes around Supers._ **

**_“Can it old man,” Clark says lightheartedly, laughing slightly._ **

**_“Okay, alien,” Bruce says sarcastically back, laughing a bit._ **

**_Jon bursts into Damian’s room, having heard Damian crying inside from the Batcave, “What’s wrong?”_ **

**_“This is all your fault!” Damian yells at Jon, pointing a finger in his chest._ **

**_“You can blame me when there’s no one left to blame, yeah, I don’t mind,” Jon says, smiling at his crying friend._ **

**_Damian envelops him in a hug moments after._ **

He cried into Bruce’s chest for three hours.

Once he had calmed down enough to speak, all he said was, “I’m leaving.” 

And he left. No one tried to stop him. They all had their own way of mourning, and if Jon killed someone, they’d cover it up. 

The black haired boy flew himself to Gotham and to Damian’s favorite spot. A large abandoned pier that was virtually unusable. He sat on the end of the dock and screamed, tears rushing down his face for the trillionth time that day. He screamed until his throat was raw and the only noise he could muster was the sobs wracking his body. He’s there for two hours screaming and crying before Tim Drake shows up. 

Tim immediately runs over to the smaller teen and wraps him in his arms.

“Hey, hey take deep breaths for me, okay?” Tim says softly, a question but more of a command. 

And it was in this moment that Jon Kent realized he couldn’t breath. He started gasping for air but tried to match his breathing with Tim’s. After about five minutes he matches his breath with Tim’s. 

Tim finally lets go of him. 

Before Tim even gets a chance to speak, Jon interrupts him, “Does everything go away?” 

Tim takes a deep inhale and sighs loudly, not annoyed just sad and holding back tears, “Yeah everything goes away.” 

Jon didn’t even get to say goodbye. 


End file.
